Stereoscopic photography, although well-known in the art, is relatively complicated and expensive to practice on a small scale. One approach calls for a special 35mm steroscopic camera. As an alternative, two 35mm cameras are employed in a side-by-side horizontal orientation to produce two slide transparencies taken simultaneously with a particular interaxial spacing. For such "two-camera" stereophotography, the slide transparencies must then be "cropped," i.e., cut and trimmed for fitting into a viewing mount. Care must be taken in insuring that homologous points, or identical points, on the transparencies, will be properly aligned on fitting into the mount. A substantial expertise has previously been necessary to accomplish this task.
According to the present invention, it has been found that stereoscopic photography can be practiced by an unskilled individual using relatively inexpensive and readily available equipment. Particularly, it has been found that the relatively small "pocket-sized" cameras, referred to as 110 cameras and which are available commercially inter alia as the Kodak Instamatic 10, 20, 30, and 40 series, as the Minolta Pocket Auto-Pak 70 series, and as the Keystone Pocket-Matic 20 series, can be used to produce slide transparencies when used in a two-camera holder constructed according to the present invention. The two slide transparencies produced by the use of such inexpensive and readily available cameras can then be cropped and fitted to standard reel mounts, such as the commercially available View-Master reel mounts, by an individual who is unskilled and working without specialized equipment. According to the invention, the slide transparencies are cropped such that the alignment of homologous points need not be considered, the cropped transparencies then being mounted on a standard reel mount for viewing with commercially available "3-D" viewing devices, such as the commercially available View-Master 3-D Viewer.
Certain novel features of the present method and apparatus enable an unskilled amateur to produce stereoscopic pictures without expensive and complicated special equipment.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for making stereoscopic photographs with relatively uncomplicated and inexpensive equipment.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for making stereoscopic photographs which enables an unskilled individual to produce stereoscopic photographs.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in light of the following description of the preferred embodiment .